India: Tiger Safaris

Heathrow to Delhi. The BA flight is 4 hours delayed. All we missed was the complimentary hotel layover in Delhi. Air India flight to Jabulpur and a driver to take us to the Jackson Hotel.
Panic to discover I've left my new phone on the plane. Blame jet lag and no sleep. A few phone calls by the front desk and it's located. Our first of many Indian buffet dinners and the food is just amazing.
Our 6 night, 7 day tour to a couple of Tiger Parks in Madhah Pradesh was organised by Tour My India. Our contact, Nitin planned and booked everything with so little fuss on our part, it's unbelievable.
And it's really not expensive to travel in India. Affordable luxury is the key to enjoying India. It's good to escape to your airconditioned car or hotel haven when the heat, the squalor,  the noise and the chaos gets too much.

Having a car and driver in India is a must. Roads are chaotic, drivers are erratic and there's only one rule - hoot and go!

As a passenger, watching life as you pass by is so fascinating.
Your driver also knows where there are decent toilets and good lunch restaurants.

After retrieving my phone at the airport, we drove about 4 hours to Kahna National Park. The park is beautiful and this is the place that inspired Rugyard Kipling's Junglebook. 

All the lodges are outside the park and we stayed at Chitvan Jungle Lodge.

We had a private jeep and 2 guides for each game drive. The hotel provided packed breakfasts and we really enjoyed the birds and had great sightings of tiger, wild dog, jungle cat and  jackal.

We transferred to Bandavgarh National Park for 3 more nights. We loved Bandav Villas and saw 6 more tiger sightings. This was exceptionally good by any measure and was certainly worth enduring the +40°c heat for. 

Almost all the other tourists were local Indians- not even mad dogs and Englishmen can cope with the pre-monsoon heat- but the tigers and their prey do need to come to the water holes regularly.

UK Cricket World Cup and more...

After a few weeks in SA, including trips to Zebula and Dullstroom and voting in the elections, we were on a plane again, this time heading to London.

First stop, Brighton for the Art's Festival. We stayed at The Legends Hotel, known for it's Drag Shows and LGBT+ night club. Our room was very quiet, even on a Saturday night and the complimentary full English breakfast was great. I chose the hotel for it's location on the seafront; within walking distance of a lot of Festival venues. The Brighton Fringe is really under-rated. There's a really wide choice of shows and the app makes planning and booking so easy. Picking 4 or 5 a day means you do see some duds but also some brilliant stuff.

Brighton Beach SPS, Durban - Class of '75 Reunion in Brighton, UK -Dorothy, Gail and Campbell

Then it was into London for a week. Back to the Hub Hotel in Covent Garden. Location is everything.
Our days and nights were filled with a good mix of friends, food, theatre and art. New finds- ROVI by Ottolengi for food and Terroirs for wine.

We hosted what I hope is the first of many parties to celebrate Neil's 60th, at 68 and Boston in Soho.
Tapas, cocktails and wine. We all had a great time.

We hired a car for 10 days. What fantastic catch-ups we had - love all you guys!

But we were in the UK for the Cricket World Cup. Up bright and early, we headed to the Oval for the opening game - Proteas Vs England. Poor Proteas, they lost. But England is one of the better sides. Home crowd. Still upbeat, it was back to the Oval four days later, Proteas Vs Bangladesh! Another loss against one of the least favourite sides.  Weather iffy and cold.
Hampshire Bowl. Game 3 against India. Freezing weather, drizzly rain. Proteas lose. Lousy day.
Game 4 against West Indies. Cancelled due to rain. We didn't even drive to the ground. We're still waiting for our refund.
And the Proteas continued their dismal run long after we'd left the UK.

Zambia Safari 5: Lower Zambezi and the journey home

Friday 26 April
We left South Luangwe and headed back to Chimwemwe Lodge.
Saturday 27 April
The next day we left early, heading for Mvuu Lodge on the Zambezi River.
We chose the route via Mpasi and as the road deterioated quickly.
Suddenly like angels, a British chap and his wife popped out of the grass from the only house for miles around to stop us in our tracks and tell us the road over the mountain had been washed away and is  impossible to get through even without towing trailers. They offered us tea but now we had a long detour via Lusaka. After U-turning both vehicles on a single rocky track on the side of a slope!
We trekked through Lusaka and made it to Chirundu in the dark.
By some fluke, with hardly any cell phone reception, I found us a lodge to stop at 10kms out of Chirundu.
Never has a burger and a beer been so welcome. Advice for next time. Overnight in Lusaka instead of Petuake. I don't think the campsite is great but you can get fuel, good supermarkets and restaurants.
Sunday 28 April
Early the next day we got to Mvuu and Ellie Campsite, the best campsite in the lodge. It's a wonderful place with views over the Zambezi River to Mana Pools on the opposite bank.

 In the evening we did a fabulous boat trip with the most awesome sightings of hippos and elephants. And lots and lots of birds.

Belly Flopping Hippos

How to waterski in crocodile infested waters!

Monday 29 April
We decided to drive into Lower Zambezi National Park.
Tracks for Africa wasn't very helpful so we got a bit lost. Eventually we found a ranger from a nearby lodge who said that forging the river would be the only way in. Luckily he went ahead so we could follow his line. There's no checking the depth beforehand in these crocodile infested waters. Danie had no time to contemplate the crossing with the rugged ranger looking on from the opposite bank. We'd hardly got going on the other side when a restless elephant filled the road, just metres ahead of us. Danie nearly repeated the river crossing in reverse! The park fees are hefty; USD 75 per car and 2 adults but it's truly beautiful and reminiscent of Mana on the opposite bank. Game viewing was sparse; no cats.

Tuesday 30 April
An early start and back into Chirundu for fuel. It's a longish detour back towards Lusaka before picking up the M1 to Livingstone. We camped overnight at Camp Nkwazi. This is a wonderful campsite on the Zambezi a few kilometres out of Livingstone.  They also have cabins, a restaurant, a pool and a wonderful deck. This is a great place for an  overnight stop and if you're coming in Zambia they can arrange help for you getting though the Kazangula border.

Wednesday 1 May
The border is a breeze when you're leaving Zambia and the run down to Nata was easy. We made it to Elephant Sands by early afternoon and really enjoyed the pool and literally hundreds of visiting ellies.

Thursday 2 May
Elephant Sands to the Stockport Border and we were back in South Africa.
Friday 3 May
Taaibos to the farm for a major unpack.